Waikato Business News July/August 2023

4 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, JULY/AUGUST 2023
Waikato fabricator bans high-silica
stone in fight against silicosis
New Zealand’s largest and only national stone benchtop
fabricator is banning engineered stone that contains more
than 40 percent silica – part of its ongoing efforts in the
fight against silicosis.
AGB Stone, which
employs more than 130
people at its six factories
across the country including
Te Rapa premises, will phase
out high-silica slabs and cease
working with suppliers who
cannot meet the company’s
standards.
Long-time advocates for
safe work practices, AGB owners
Cam and Christine Paranthoiene
have, for many years,
led the way stone fabricators
should operate – including
creating proprietary processes,
investing millions of dollars in
state-of-the-art machinery and
being early adopters of wet-cutting
and air monitoring as a
safeguard against the potentially-fatal
lung disease silicosis.
“We want to protect our
staff, our customers and our
industry. It’s the right thing to
do,” Paranthoiene says.
“It is the single most effective
and easiest thing that any
fabricator can do to step change
the risk of silicosis. We now
have a viable alternative, so it’s
time everyone in the industry
made the change.
“You cannot have health and
safety and professionalism, and
be the cheapest. You will always
get cheaper but at what cost?
We feel this is so important
that we are prepared to take a
hit to our business [losing customers
who want a lower priced
product] in order to make this
happen.”
The scale of the danger of
silicosis from dust emitted
when stone is dry cut or polished
was not fully known in the
industry until 2019.
Silica levels
in standard
engineered stone
are around
90 percent
The New Zealand Engineered
Stone Advisory Group,
supported by ACC and Work-
Safe was established in June
2019 to ensure the safe practice
guidelines for stone fabricators
with AGB instrumental in setting
up those standards.
AGB had previously conducted
rigorous air testing to
validate the effectiveness of its
dust management practices.
The results were less than
50 percent of the acceptable
Workplace Exposure Standard
for any industry. This validation
reinforced AGB’s commitment
to exceed minimum
requirements.
WorkSafe issued 113 notices
to 64 businesses that year,
including 21 prohibition notices
and 71 improvement notices.
The following year that rose to
166 notices to 75 businesses –
however there were only three
prohibitions, but 115 improvement
notices. ACC has received
140 claims for assessment since
September 2020. There have
been no reported deaths in New
Zealand.
Paranthoiene feels a total
ban, as being investigated by
the Australian government, is
an excessive and unnecessary
move – if using low-silica product
with proper processes in
place.
To clearly differentiate from
standard solutions, AGB has
created a low-silica engineered
stone offering – Better Benchtops
– fabricated using NZE-
SAG RCS (Respirable Crystalline
Silica) Accredited methods.
“Silica levels in standard
engineered stone are around
90 percent. By insisting on no
more than 40 percent silica and
with robust safety processes,
Better Benchtops will offer
peace of mind for our staff and
customers.”
It is anticipated that the
AGB Cam and Christine Paranthoiene
compliant product will become
progressively available from
later this year – and Paranthoiene
has been encouraged
by the response from customers
wholeheartedly supporting
this initiative.
Sai Kumar Gannavaram has
been working at the Te Rapa
factory for four and a half years
and he values AGB’s level of
protection for its staff, compared
to others in the industry.
“I have worked in this
industry for seven years and
left places where I didn’t feel
my safety was a priority. AGB
is way better. I have a mask,
water-fed tools uniforms and
warm water.”
In April, the New Zealand
Council of Trade Unions urged
the Government to protect
workers exposed to hazardous
material in engineered stone,
emphasising that terminal
illnesses such as lung cancer,
silicosis and other autoimmune
diseases are preventable
if proper action is taken.
In a recent statement,
Workplace Relations and Safety
Minister Carmel Sepuloni
said WorkSafe would revisit
high-risk businesses, and if
there were problems, “use all
enforcement actions available,
including investigation and
considering prosecution where
it is warranted”.
WorkSafe estimates 60,000
engineered stone slabs are
imported each year, and there
are believed to be approximately
130 businesses that fabricate
them into benchtops for
kitchens, bathrooms and commercial
premises.
“AGB is in a unique position,
as it services all parts of
New Zealand,” Paranthoiene
says. “We can use that reach to
influence fabricators and suppliers
across the country to follow
suit.”
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